27/10/2025 - Aboozar Amini’s film triumphs at the festival, which also awarded titles by David Bim, Alisa Kovalenko and Paula Oneţ

David Bim winning the Best Directing Award for To the West, in Zapata (© Marius Şumlea/Astra Film Festival)

Aboozar Amini’s documentary Kabul, Between Prayers [+see also:
film review
film profile] won the Astra Film Award for Best International Documentary at the 32nd edition of Astra Film Festival, which finished on 26 October, Romania’s most prominent documentary gathering. The jury deemed the film by the Dutch-Afghan filmmaker based in Amsterdam “a nuanced portrayal of a world difficult to reach and understand. The director approaches the story with complete openness and no moral judgment. Through strikingly beautiful cinematography, the film provides both a sensorial and sensual experience, while being profoundly moving.” The Best Directing Award went to Spain’s David Bim for To the West, in Zapata [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

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Ukrainian filmmaker Alisa Kovalenko's My Dear Théo [+see also:
film review
film profile] won the only award of the Eastern European Competition. The jurors welcomed Kovalenko’s work as "a documentary about courage and personal sacrifice. The love for family and country drives the director to risk her life on the front line. The film is a diary, a testimony, and a love letter from a mother to her son, who longs to live in a free and peaceful country.”

The winner of the Romanian Competition was Paula Oneţ’s Still Nia. “The film turns a heavy story into a gentle, sensorial journey, creating a safe space where the viewer can immerse, reflect, and heal,” said the jurors in their motivation. The Best Directing Award went to Andra MacMasters’ Bright Future [+see also:
film review
film profile].

Besides its traditional short film competition, Docschool, the festival introduced this year a new short film competition, DocShort, French directing duo Fleury Fontaine, consisting of Galdric Fleury and Antoine Fontaine, won the only award of this competition with Sixty-Seven Milliseconds.

Here is the complete list of awards:

New Voices Competition

Astra Film Award for Best Documentary
Kabul, Between Prayers [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Aboozar Amini (Netherlands/Belgium)

Best Directing Award
David Bim - To the West, in Zapata [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Cuba/Spain)

Eastern European Competition

Best Documentary
My Dear Théo [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Alisa Kovalenko (Ukraine/Poland/Czech Republic)

Romanian Competition

Best Documentary
Still Nia – Paula Oneţ (Romania)

Best Directing Award
Andra MacMasters – Bright Future [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Romania/South Korea)

DocSchool Competition

Best Documentary
God’s Other Plan – Moritz Mueller-Preisser (Germany) (short film)

DocShort Competition

Best Documentary
Sixty-Seven Milliseconds – Fleury Fontaine (France) (short film)